Heat rising to the Lakers’ Finals challenge
Each time the Miami Heat needed something more during the NBA playoffs — intensity, diligence on defense, bench scoring — they’ve come up with the goods. The absence of two injured starters on Sunday meant they needed more from Jimmy Butler, and he delivered a spectacular 40- point, 11- rebound, 13- assist performance.
Trailing the Lakers 2- 1 in the NBA Finals, Miami will need more of the same Tuesday in Game 4 from Butler and a supporting cast that meshed so well in a morale- boosting 115- 104 victory in Game 3. For their biggest win of the playoffs to become a building block and not merely a pause in the Lakers’ coronation the Heat must again find something more to carry them forward. Forward Jae Crowder believes it could come on the mental side of the game.
“Just try to impose your will, impose our game plan for more minutes of the game, hopefully give ourselves a chance to close it out in the fourth quarter,” Crowder said via videoconference on Monday. “I just think that’s our mind- set.”
Miami has been confident at every turn, even though the Heat lost center Bam Adebayo and guard
Goran Dragic to injuries after Game 1 and fell short in Game 2 with a failed late push. “We just couldn’t get over the hill, get over that hump, and crank into that game,” Heat reserve Kelly Olynyk said. “But we felt we were right there for the majority of that game. So we knew that we could have success on both ends of the f loor. We just had to come out and execute.”
The Heat got over that hill in Game 3, transforming hope and belief into a victory. Suddenly, a series that
was shaping up to be a waltz for the Lakers became a lot more interesting. “We did what we were supposed to do,” said Tyler Herro, who scored 17 points in his second straight start, “but there is a lot more games, three more games that we need to win.”
Butler did the majority of the heavy lifting in Game 3. “We rode him out. He led the entire game. We was just on his back,” Crowder said. Butler’s exploits fired up his teammates, who had needed an animated moti
vational speech from Udonis Haslem in the third quarter of Game 2 to spark a rally. Butler’s play served that purpose Sunday.
“He did everything for us, both sides of the ball. Just talk about accepting the challenge, rising to the occasion,” guard Duncan Robinson said. “His leadership is really special. He’s only yelling at us if we’re not where we should be or if we’re not shooting. He’s constantly encouraging and breathing life into people, and it’s just great to have that type of guy as your leader.”
It also helped that Heat coach Erik Spoelstra moved away from a zone defense in an effort to slow Lakers forward Anthony Davis. Man- to- man coverage got Davis in early foul trouble and limited him to 15 points and five rebounds. “We just tried to set a tone and be physical with him,” Crowder said. “His rebounding and stuff came with our zone defense, so we tried to manup as much as possible in this game and get a body on him. … I feel our man- toman defense was able to sustain him a little bit, hold him to what we wanted to on the boards.”
The Lakers should be concerned that Miami outscored them in all four quarters on Sunday and has outscored or been even with them in six consecutive quarters over the last two games. Butler’s fingerprints were all over that on Sunday, but Olynyk, Herro and Robinson ( 13 points) played their part in a 51.2% shooting performance for Miami.
Extending the series will give Adebayo ( neck injury) and Dragic ( torn plantar fascia) more time to heal. Adebayo warmed up before Sunday’s game and was listed among the active players but didn’t play. He called himself “day to day” for a possible return. Dragic said Monday the chances are low that he’ll play in Game 4. Heat players aren’t worried.
“We’ve been having players step up for us this whole playoff push, so it’s no different now that two of our main guys are out,” Crowder said. “Our spirits were high.”
Game 3 was the ultimate example of the Heat’s ability to crank it up when they need something more. “We’ve just got to carry that into Game 4,” said Olynyk, who couldn’t crack the rotation in two of Miami’s last three games in the Eastern Conference finals against Boston but came off the bench to contribute 24 points on Friday and 17 on Sunday. “They’re going to come with a plan to be better in Game 4. We’ve got to be better ourselves. The same game we played in Game 3 isn’t going to win Game 4. We know that.”
They’re prepared to give more, and then more after that. “Game 1 and 2 we felt like they punked us a little bit. They were being a lot more physical than we were, and that’s just not how we play basketball as an organization,” Herro said. On Sunday, “we wanted to come out with a lot more energy and focus and make it fearless at both ends of the f loor. We did a good job of that, but it’s not going to be enough to win the series,” he said.
“The next game, we’re going to have to bring more energy, more focus, and just keep continuing to get better.”